Federer wards off Acasuso

Itsswansong forRussian Safin at RolandGarros

Federer appeared to be heading for his earliest grand slamdefeatsince2003whenhe
struggled to find his touch for three sets on a damp day in Parisbutfoundhisrangein the
nick of time tosubdueArgentina's Jose Acasuso 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.

ThirdseedWilliams’secondroundtusslewassuspendedon Wednesday due to bad light aftershehadlost the first set.She returned to save a match point before crawlingover the finishing line with a 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 win over Czech Lucie Safarova.

Younger sister Serena Williams raced into the third round with a clinical 6-2, 6-0
demolitionofSpaniardVirginia Ruano Pascual.

Jelena Jankovic enjoyed an easier outing asshesnuffedout the challenge of Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 6-2 and Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsovawas atherruthless best in a 49-minute 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva.

Men'sfifthseedJuanMartin del Potro marched on by beating Serbia's Viktor Troicki 6-3,
7-5, 6-0, while tenth seed NikolayDavydenkocarvedouta4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 win over Argentine Diego Junqueira.

French number one Marion Bartoli,the13thseed,slumpedto 6-3,7-5defeatbyItaly'sTathiana
GarbinwhileSvetlanaKuznetsovashowedlittlemercyinaswift6-0, 6-2 hammering of Kazakhstan'sGalinaVoskoboeva.

Andy Roddick outgunned theCzechRepublic's IvoMinar 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 to reach the third
round in Paris for the first time since his debut appearance in 2001. The sixth seed matched his best effort by firing 15 aces pasthisopponent,whohasnow failed to beat the American in  all four of their meetings.

Safin bids farewell

Marat Safin bowed out of his last French Open with typical flashes of brilliance and petulanceonWednesdayina7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, 10-8 defeat by wildcard Josselin Ouanna that the former world number one was keen to forget.

ThehotheadedRussian,who will retire at theendof the year, clawed himself back from two
sets down to force a decider where he saved two match points before bashing a wild
forehand wide to send the 134th-ranked Frenchman into the third round.

The 20th seed dug himself outofaholewiththe type of exquisitely placed forehands that
took him to two grand slam titles but then buried himself in deeper trouble with the sloppy shots that trigger his entertaining displays of frustration.

Paes-Black advance SecondseedsLeanderPaesand CaraBlackovercameasluggish
start to book a second round berth in the mixed doubles, scoring a 6-3, 6-3 win over VirginieRazzanoandJeffCoetzee.

They will next take on the winners of the match between Dominika Cibulkova/Filip Polasek and Sybille Bammer/Lukasz Kubot.

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi will open their campaignagainstNathalieDechyof
France and Israel’s Andy Ram.



FrenchOpenresultsonThursday

Second-round results (prefix denotes seeding):

Men’s singles: 11-Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Victor Crivoi (Rom) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; 6-
Andy Roddick (US) bt Ivo Minar (Cze)6-2, 6-2, 7-6(2); 9-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
(Fra) bt Juan Monaco (Argentina) 7-5,2-6, 6-1, 7-6(8); Marc Gicquel (Fra) bt
Andreas Beck (Ger) 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(3),7-5; 32-Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt
Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; 24-Juergen Melzer (Aus) bt Guillaume
Rufin (Fra) 6-2, 7-5, 6-4; TommyHaas (Ger) bt Leonardo Mayer (Arg) 6-3, 7-
6(2), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3; Christophe Rochus (Bel) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 6-1, 7-5,
4-6, 6-3; 2-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Jose Acasuso (Arg) 7-6(8), 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2;
25-Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Martin Vassallo Argueello (Arg) 1-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-
3, 6-4; 5-Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) bt Viktor Troicki (Serb) 6-3, 7-5, 6-0;
10-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Diego Junqueira (Arg) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2;
Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 7-6(8), 6-3, 6-3; Jeremy
Chardy (Fra) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita) 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1; 16-TommyRobredo
(ESP) bt Daniel Gimeno (ESP) 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; Josselin Ouanna (Fra) bt
20-Marat Safin (Rus) 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 4-6, 3-6, 10-8.

Women’s singles: 2-Serena

Williams (US) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 6-2, 6-0; Virginie Razzano
(Fra) bt 18-Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 6-2, 6-2; Sorana Cirstea (Rom) bt
21-Alize Cornet (Fra) 6-3, 6-2; Melinda Czink (Hun) bt 28-Sybille Bammer
(Aut) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8; Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) bt Viktoriya Kutuzova
(Ukr) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; 3-Venus Williams (US) bt Lucie Safarova (Cze) 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-5; 10-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Jill Craybas (US) 6-1, 6-4; Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) bt Alexa Glatch (US) 7-6(0), 7-5; Jarmila Groth (Slo) bt Mariana Duque (Col) 6-2, 7-6(9); Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt 13-Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-3, 7-5; 5-Jelena Jankovic (Serb) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (Slo) 6-1, 6-2; 24-Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) bt Petra Martic
(Cro) 6-3, 6-3; 7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Kaz) 6-0,
6-2; Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-2.